Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a death warrant scheduling Victor Jones’ execution for September 30, 2025 for the 1990 murders of Matilda Nestor and Jacob Nestor. This is the 13th execution set in Florida this year. The following information is from our partners at Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Mr. Jones’ case highlights the systemic failures that plague capital punishment in Florida:

• Unresolved Questions of Fairness: Over decades of litigation, Mr. Jones has raised claims about ineffective assistance of counsel, intellectual disability, and failures to consider key mitigating evidence like brain damage and fetal alcohol syndrome. These claims were never fully considered by the courts.
• Victor survived horrific abuse at the Okeechobee School for boys. He was beaten with leather straps, called racist slurs, locked in solitary, and forced to witness rapes. This trauma left him suicidal and hearing voices. Florida’s own newspapers are sounding the alarm, with the Sun Sentinel Editorial Board writing: “Now, after stealing his future as a child, the State seeks to execute Mr. Jones.”
  For decades, courts dismissed Victor’s childhood abuse as “not credible.” But in January of this year, the Florida Attorney General formally recognized him as a victim of crimes committed by state officials at Okeechobee, making him eligible for financial compensation through the Dozier & Okeechobee School Victim Compensation Fund. To receive that designation, Victor had to prove not only that he was confined there during the specified time period, but also that he suffered physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. This recognition is new and material evidence that Victor’s jurors never heard. Yet in an unreasonably rushed process, the courts denied Victor the chance to present it or even obtain critical public records. Incredibly, during the warrant process, the Florida Attorney General pursuing his execution falsely claimed that Victor never proved he was abused at the school. They had in their sole possession evidence that he was, refused to turn it over, then tried to say he failed to prove it.
• Broken Jury System: One of Jones’ sentences was non-unanimous (10–2). Florida remains an outlier in its willingness to execute people after divided jury recommendations, despite U.S. Supreme Court precedent in Hurst v. Florida exposing flaws in the state’s sentencing scheme.
• A National Outlier: While most states have moved away from the death penalty, Florida is accelerating executions at an alarming rate. Each warrant signed underscores the state’s embrace of a punishment that is arbitrary, racially biased, and out of step with evolving standards of decency.

The death penalty does not bring safety, closure, or healing. It perpetuates cycles of violence, consumes public resources that could go to true community safety, and risks executing people without ever resolving lingering questions about their cases.

Stopping Victor Jones’ execution is not just about one man. It is about rejecting Florida’s reckless expansion of state killing and standing for a justice system that values fairness, human dignity, and life.

Join the Virtual Sit In

Call Governor DeSantis at 850-717-9337 with the following message:

"Hi. My name is [your name]. I am calling to express my concern about the direction Florida is headed with regards to the death penalty. Florida has beat its own record and has now executed more individuals this year than in any previous year. True accountability does not require mirroring the violence you claim to want to stop and denies the power of redemption."

REGISTER FOR THE VIRTUAL VIGIL BEGINNING AT 5PM ET ON 9/30.

We believe in accountability, but true accountability does not require execution. A sentence of life without the possibility of parole protects society while also recognizing the human capacity for redemption and the role of childhood trauma in shaping adult behavior.

Florida does not need the death penalty to be safe. This execution will not make us safer, it will simply add another act of violence to an already tragic story. Justice does not require death. Florida's continued use of executions marks the state as an outlier in its use of the death penalty. The majority of other states are on a downward trend of executions.

Please sign the petition asking Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida State Board of Executive Clemency to do everything within their power to stop this execution, including issuing a stay, and seeking a path to clemency in the case.